"Your Holiness, thank you for granting me this private audience with you," Leonardo said in Italian, before kissing the Pope's ring.

With the Oscars happening next month, we can't help but joke a little about the actor asking for a little divine intervention for his first win. He is currently in the running to win Best Actor for his role in The Revenant. Not that any of this was mentioned (nudge, nudge) to the Pope during the meeting – at least not that we can see from the video or from any reports.

With the help of a translator, Leo went on to tell His Holiness about a reproduction of 15th-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch's work that used to hang over his crib when he was a baby. The triptych painting – entitled Garden of Earthly Delights – has Adam and Eve, a garden landscape, and hell depicted on three connected panels.

"As a child I didn't quite understand what it all meant," Leo said. "But through my child's eyes it represented a planet, the utopia we had been given, the overpopulation, excesses, and the third panel we see a blackened sky that represents so much to me of what's going in the environment." Like we said, deep conversation about environmental issues, a topic both are very passionate about. He then presented the book about the painting and a cheque to use for charitable works to the Pope. Leo also received copies of Francis's environment-centric encyclical Laudato Si.

Exchanging "God bless you" greetings with each other before saying goodbye, Leo's fate at the Oscars still remains as uncertain as ever.